Industrial truck attachment



y 1958 A. REISMAN ETAL 2,841,302

INDUSTRIAL TRUCK ATTACHMENT Filed Sept. 6, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 N a Q \Q N 4 e INVENTORS. N Howard Rgismazz R BY Aibezi- Kwanzaa MW C A 0% ATTORNEY July 1, 1958 A. REISMAN ET AL 2 841302 INDUSTRIAL TRUCK ATTACHMENT 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Safe. 6, 1956 z; A? m N\ m 3 mu w "W mg A 1' C m M a! A A N \IN. A\\M n QN July 1, 1958 A. REISMAN ET AL 2,841,302

INDUSTRIAL TRUCK ATTACHMENT Filed Sept. 6, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TORS.

Howard Bez'wmaad AZbepf' Reimnazz WW C. A160,"?

ATTOENEK July 1, 1958 A. REISMAN ET AL 2,841,302

INDUSTRIAL TRUCK ATTACHMENT 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 @m p a i 7 fmzz 7 4 z a 1 a \m/ w MM a i z a a w M, w :J a 1 4 n, 9 w

4 a Z m Z i 4 w, hw A x 6 z 3 INVINTORS Howard Rqzamalz BY Alfierf' Rela'man (/W C 164, ATTORNEY July 1, 1958 A. REISMAN ETAL 2,841,302

INDUSTRIAL TRUCK ATTACHMENT Filed Sept. 6, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 iwmazz 4 sman INVENTORS. fiozzzard [Fe 1411291 1- Rel MM C fi ATZ RNEX 7 2,341,392 Patented July 1, 1958 JtQQ INDUSTREAL TRUCK ATIACHMEN'E Albert Reisman and Howard Reisman, Philadelphia, Application Slepternher s, B56, Serial No. 658,256

7 Claims. (63. 214-621) This invention relates to an attachment for a forlo type industrial truck, and more particularly to an attachment which facilitates the transportation of articles freely resting on a pallet.

The fork-type industrial truck and pallet techni a has revolutionized industrial material handling practices. Not only has it minimized labor in handling of transported articles, but it has also expanded existing storage facilities to their absolute ceiling.

Existing techniques have expeditiously managed pallet loads of substantially heavy articles such as heavy be as or sacks, for example; but lighter articles such as cans of pretzels or potato chips fall ofi flat pallets unless iii: are restrained in some fashion. Heretoforc, these articles have been carried Within transporting enclosures, or they have been lashed or strapped together on fiat pallets. However, walled carrying enclosures are expensive and diflicult to load and unload; and lashing or strapping involves expense in material and valuable labor time.

An object of this invention is to provide attachment for an industrial fork-type truck which fac e the handling and transportation of lighter articles resting on a pallet.

in accordance with this invention an open-ended enclosure is secured to the front end of an industrial for-l:- type truck. The term industrial fork-type truck refers to any industrial material handling device which utilizes forks for lifting and transporting pallets or skids. Typical of this type are: pallet jacks, skid jacks, and fork-lift trucks.

This enclosure has side walls spaced apart distance slightly greater than the lateral distance across an array of articles loaded on a pallet in substantial contact with each other. When-the forks of the truck are engaged with the pallet, the array of articles on the pallet passes through the unobstructed open end of the enclosure be tween the spaced side walls which intimately confines the articles and prevents disl'odgenient during lifting and transportation.

A gate is provided at the open front end to longitudinally confine the articles during transportation. gate may fully close the open end or only a portion of it, and operating means for opening it provide unobstructed passage for insertion and withdrawal of a loaded pallet. When the forks of the truck are made to laterally the pallet in a close fit, the insertion of the pallet load of articles within the enclosure is guided and facilitated. The front end of the enclosure may be supported casters which may be resiliently mounted to facilitate insertion of the roller forks of a pallet jack. The side walls may be adjustably mounted on the rear wall of the tion will 'bSCCmC 'cbv .3 to one skilled in the t, from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the drawings in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts and in which:

Fig. 1 is perspective view of an. embodiment of this invention attached to a pallet jack about to engage a pallet load of cans;

Fig. 2 is another perspective view or" the embodiment own in Fig. 1 with the pallet load of cans partially Fig. 3 is another perspective view of the embodiment shown in Fig. l with the pallet load fully engaged and ready to be transported;

Fig. 4 is a perspective rear iewof another embodiment or" this invention attached to a pallet jack and par.- tially engaged with apallet load of cans; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of this invention attached to a fork-lift truck.

Referring to Figs. 1 through 3, an attachment Til is shown in three phases of engagement with a pallet 12 loaded with articles 14, which are relatively light round cans for example. These may be, for example, pretzel or potato chip cans, which are very light and bulky, which makes them difiicult to transport on fiat pallets without lashing or strapping them together.

Attachment it which may be described as an openended enclosure or cage is secured to the front end 13 of a conventional pallet jack to which includes a handle Ell, wheels 22 and a lift mechanism generally indicated by reference character 24. Front end 18 is raised together with arms or forks 26 to lift and transport a pallet 12. Front end 13 may also accordingly be described as a lifting carriage.

Arms or forks 25 include lateral extensions or outriggers 28 to provide a close lateral fit with pallet 12 to guide the lateral engagement of enclosure 10 with the array of cans 14 freely resting on pallet 12. The front ends of forks 26 include rollers 3% which bump over the bottom wall of pallet 12 when forks 26 are inserted within the space between the upper and lower walls of a conventional pallet 12.

Enclosure ill includes a pair of side walls 32 which are spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the lateral distance across the array of cans 14 freely resting on pallet 12. Since these cans 14 are loaded in regular rows, for example, on a rectangular pallet 12, they constitute a substantially rectangular array with adjacent cans 34 in contact with others. Side walls 32 are fixed at a set distance and may accordingly be used only with arrays of articles whose lateral measurement is slightly less than the distance between them.

Back walls 34 (see Fig. 2) is secured to side walls .32 to form an open-ended enclosure together with them. Side walls 32 and rear wall 3 are made, for example, of vertical steel angles 36 and horizontal steel strips 38. Ends 39 of horizontal strips 3% protrude past vertical strips 46 at the open end of enclosure it) and are curved outwardly to facilitate insertion of cans 14 within enclosure itl. Rear or back wall is secured to front end 18 by bolted straps or other conventional means (not fully'shown). The attachment it may be bolted onto front end is so that it may be easily removed to permit the pallet jack in to be used in a conventional manner, or it may be permanently secured to the pallet jack 16 by welding, for example.

The front or open end of enclosure it) is mounted on a pair of casters 42 which help support the weight of side walls 32. Casters 4-2. include wheels 44 which swivel on rods as, which are resiliently secured to vertical strips 41') by means of bearing brac ets 5 a 5e. Collars 56 are secured rods as, Sf. .11 disposed are secured to' side walls 32a.

lower transmission 74a.

821 changes the spacing of the front end of side walls 7 wells 32a. 7

,A column 90a is secured to the fr'ont'end 18a of pallet about rods .:6 between collars d and bearing brackets52 resiliently support the enclosure on the casters andrrod assemblies. 7 a 7 "A gate 56-.includes, for example, a pair of side bars or levers 60 pivoted at 58 to thtop-of strip's ltl af'the open front end of enclosure 10. Side bars 68 are'conpled V by connecting links 62 to an actuating arm 64, which is V V guided within a bearing 66 and terminating in an o'perating .handle'68. A closure bar 70 joins the extreme ends of side levers 60.

Gate 56 is shown in the opencondition in Figsql and 2 with bar 70raised above the entrance to enclosure 19 V which provides an unobstructed passageway for. the 'insertion of the array of cans 14 on pallet 12 within enclosure 10. In Fig. 3 gate '56 is shown closed with bar 76' 7 dropped against the top row of cans 'l where it accordingly prevents longitudinal movement of-thc cans 14 while'they' are being transported. Gate 55 is closed by forward movement of handle 68 and actuating arm 6 While gate 56 may be made to bear against all rows of articles within the array,.it hasbeen' discovered that the illustrated retention-of only the top row is sufficient for most applications, V

In Fig. 4 is'shown sin embodiment of this invention whose side walls 32a are movable to. variable spacings to accommodate arrays of articles of dififerent lateral dimen sions. The adjusting mechanism includes pairs of opposite hand lead screws 72a coupled to. transmissions 74o, bevel gear type for example. An operating handle 76a is connected to upper transmission 76a to rotate the lead screws 72a which engage laterally movable nuts 7 t which Anextension shaft 80:; connects handle 76a through upper transmission '74a'to A single lateral adjusting screw 32a. Screw 32a is anchored in one side wall by a bearing 84a and in the other side wall by a laterally moving nut Handle'88a rotates'screws 82a in either direction to change the relative position of the front ends of side jacklfia to support the rear wall 34a of enclosure 19a. 7

and the incorporated adjusting mechanism. Rear Wall 34a. includes .a pair of vertical angles 92a which are pierced to cooperate in supporting horizontal guide bars 94a which are centrally mounted in brackets 96a in colu1i1nl90a. The ends of guide bars 94a'pass'throug'h apertures in vertical rear corner angles 36a to guide them and attached-side walls 32a in their lateral-movement.

Bars E la and 70a are conveniently made telescopic to; avoid'having endsprotruding past-side walls 32a, but these bars can merely protrude through apertures in.

the side walls where economy is most critical. Ih'e adjus't- V V ing mechanism shown in Fig.4 is only anillustrativeway that relative movementr of theside'walls may be accom-' plished. 'Many otherarran'gement's .may :be utiliz'edfto provide this feature. e

In'Fig. 5 an embodiment of this invention is shown;

attached to a fork-liftindustrial truck 1691; having upright guide channels 16%. Enclosure 1605 is secured to the a front end or lifting carriage 10412 whichis connected to Operation V V Figs. l-3 vividly illustrate step-by-stepghow an attachment 10 secured to a pallet jack 16 is engaged with a pallet load of cans 14 to lift and transport it without danger of dislodging any of the cans. Fig. 1 shows the pallet jack and enclosure with gate 56 raised to provide an unobstructed front end which permits the cans 14 to pass within side walls 32; v V s Fig. 2 shows the pallet jack. partially engaged with pallet 12 with arms 26 and lateralextensions 28 closely fitting laterally within the Walls of pallet 12. This assists in guiding the sidewalls 32 to. clear the sides of the outer After the pallet jack 16 and attached enclosure 10 are Curved ends 39 of side walls 7 V ordinary transporting engaged with the array of can 14 on pallet 12, :hydraulic lift 24 'is operated to "raise front. end 18 and arms 26. This lifts pallet 12 and cans 14 together with enclosure 10. Resiliently mounted casters 42 continue to support the front end of enclosure '16. The pallet jack and its load of cans may be then rolled to its destination Where the illustrated procedure'is reversed to drop the pallet load.

Extremely light andbulkyff articles, such as pretzel and potato chip cans, maybe convenientlyand safely transported on standard flat'pallets without theusual lashing 0r strapping precautions; ,Other smooth articles which' are restrained with difiiculty, such as bricks or light carattached to standard industrial fork-type trucks.

tons, can beexpeditiously handledwith similarienclo'sures V Fig. 4 illustrates anadjustable attachment 10a side walls 32a-whose spacing'can be varied to accommo' 'date, articles and arrays'of dilferent size. single at .tachment 10a may accordinglybe used for pallet loads j of a wide range or" lateral dimensions; Gate'56 may be adapted to extend a variable distance "within enclosure 10a to retain pallet loads of varying longitudinaldinien sions.

Fig. 5 sh ws an attachment 10b secured to a forklift" truck 100b.- Pallet loads may thereby-be transported and.

truckltitib'by coupling means 1961), which rides up and down within channels 1025 in' a conventional manner.

Diagonal brace 19 b anchors the top of rear enclosure. 7 'wall 345 to lifting carriage 10417 to'help provide a canti} lever support for enclosure 1%. The fro'nt or open end e of enclosure 1%, therefore; need not itself be supported. 7 7 forks 11Gb support armslfib which themselves 'aref'relae .tively wide to provide close lateral: engagement with a v pallet. i-lAlr'mfisb is extended downward to be accessible when the lifting carriage 194k and enclosurefitlbare elevated. Remote means, for operating gate 56b frointlie operating station of the fork-lift'truck 1607) may also be:

providedfor convenience of the driver.

lifted to destinationsa considerableheight above ground level. Since enclosure' 10bas well "as '10- and 10a, is automatically engaged with a pallet'an'd loads by a simple forward movement of the truck, only' very slight fiddi: tional headroom or clearance is required for theenc lo sure 1%. Attachment 10b.may be accordingly operated in any low head-room conditionpermitting. operation of an ordinary fork-lift truck, and pallet loads may be accordingly stored in tiered racks or pigeon holes without: strapping or lashing the. articles to each other or to thef palletg V .What is claimed is: i r

1. An attachment for a fork-type industrialtruck for V facilitating the transportation of articles freely, resting in contact with other in'an array on a pallet, said attachment comprisingan enclosure secured to the front end of said truck; said enclosure. having sidewalls spaced apart'a distance slightly greater than theflateral distance I across said array forfintimately confining said, articlesin.

said array during transportatiomof said pallet, said front 1 7 end of said enclosure being open and unobstructedfforim' sertion of said array when saidt'rnck is engaged withfsaid. 5 V pallet, gate means 'being' mounted adjacent the front end" V of said enclosure for longitudinally confining saidiarra'y.

therewithin, and operating means being associated with said gate means for moving said gate means clear of said open end to permit insertion of said array and for interposing said gate means into the path of movement of said array after said array is inserted within said enclosure.

2. An attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said gate means is mounted at the top of said open end and confines only an upper row of said articles.

3. An attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein the forks of said truck are adapted for close lateral engagement with said pallet to assist in guiding the insertion of said array within said enclosure.

4. An attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said open front end of said enclosure is mounted on a pair of casters.

5. An attachment as set forth in claim 4 wherein said casters are resiliently mounted.

6. An attachment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said side walls are engaged with the rear wall of said enclosure by adjustable means which permits the space between said side walls to be varied for accommodating arrays of articles of different lateral sizes.

7. An attachment for a fork-lift type industrial truck including a lifting carriage comprising the combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said enclosure is mounted upon said lifting carriage, and structural means are pro vided for supporting the front end of said enclosure free of the ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,335,572 Schroeder Nov. 30, 1943 2,400,661 Struensee et al. May 21, 1946 2,514,563 Todd July 11, 1950 2,589,342 Christensen Mar. 18, 1952 2,681,712 West June 22, 1954 2,702,646 Van Doren Feb. 22, 1955 2,760,663 Tatum Aug. 28, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 884,314 Germany July 27, 1953 

